In connection with shipping various types of products, such as food products, from a manufacturer to a retail establishment, it is known to initially package the products in cartons. Although various materials could be used in making the cartons, the most common material employed is paperboard. In general, the paperboard is provided in the form of a blank which can be conveniently stored in a flat configuration or side seamed configuration but easily erected through a simple folding operation to establish an open-ended carton which can be filled and sealed, typically in an automated process. Multiple cartons are then typically arranged side-by-side in a corrugated box for shipping through designated distribution channels to the retail establishment, such as a grocery store, where the cartons in each shipping box can be unloaded and arranged on a display shelf for sale to consumers.
Known end load cartons of this type are not only lightweight, but the paperboard is advantageously recyclable. However, such paperboard cartons lack significant compression strength, leading to the need for the cartons to be loaded side-by-side in the protective, outer corrugated shipping boxes. If additional strength is needed for shipping purposes, common sense would dictate strengthening a single corrugated box which can hold numerous paperboard cartons rather than incurring the added expense of reinforcing each paperboard carton. With this in mind, certain advancements have been made in the area of corrugated boxes to enable numerous loaded boxes to be stacked on one another, while avoiding crushing of the boxes and stacking forces from being borne by the cartons. For example, enhanced lamination configurations, fluting techniques and material variations represent certain approaches commonly considered in the industry.
It would certainly be beneficial and cost effective to also minimize the amount of corrugated fiber needed in the industry. This could be addressed by enabling paperboard cartons to be stacked and to directly bear some or all of the associated vertical forces. To this end, it is considered advantageous to enable various products, particularly food products, to be packaged in paperboard cartons which themselves are strengthened to enable vertical stacking. Even further, it would be unprecedented if the paperboard cartons could even be shipped in a stacked configuration without the need for an outer container, such as a corrugated box. Certainly, this goal is achievable, but has not been considered practical, particularly as the added cost of bolstering the strength of the cartons, taking into account the sheer volume of such paperboard cartons used in the food industry alone, would be prohibitive. Still, in light of the known drawbacks, it would be desirable to provide paperboard cartons which are stronger so as to enhance their ability to be stacked if the same could be economically accomplished.